A response to Mya and Max’s letter on the heritage of the Confederate Flag: What your mother and dad told you about the Confederate Flag is true. What they did not tell you was the rest of its history.
In the 1960s the equal rights movement was started by African Americans. Organizations like the KKK and others used the Confederate flag as threats and intimidation of African Americans. Your parents still see the flag as heritage. The African Americans see it as a symbol of hate.
When an African American goes into a government building or court house that is flying that Confederate flag, they think they will not be treated with the same fairness and respect that a white person would receive. This is because of the way they were threatened in the past and even today with the Confederate flag.
There are some people saying that the South will rise again. That is treason. For the South to rise again, they would have to denounce the American way and our country. They are also using the Confederate flag as their flag of choice rather than the American flag.
I have no problem with the Confederate flag being flown at Stone Mountain and other historical monuments or museums. These are the locations where the Confederate flag was not and is not being used for hatred.
Being an old person I have seen the Confederate flag go from a symbol of heritage to a symbol of hatred. It is now time for the Confederate flag to be retired to the museums and monuments so it can receive the respect it started out with.
Alonzo M. Wilkins, III
Fayetteville, Ga.
